LAKEWOOD RANCH, FLORIDA — The U.S. U17 Men’s National Team opened up its title defense at the 2014 Nike International Friendlies with a 3-1 win over England on Friday.

Christian Pulisic scored twice and Alejandro Zendejas added the other one as the hosts comfortably secured three points in an impressive performance at the opening day of the event.

“We are definitely amped up for this tournament,” Pulisic said after the game. “We are always excited to get more international games in. We played well in Chile, but didn’t get the results that we wanted. It was nice to play against a good team today and do exactly what we wanted to do.”

“It was a great game and I thought we did really well,” U.S. head coach Richie Williams said after the game. “We thought they played well and executed well. We got the goals that we needed and held off a very good England team at the end and got a great result.”

The U.S. had to settle for second in the standings though. Brazil won the first game of the day 4-0 over Australia. The South American powerhouse leads the standings after the first round.

U.S. U17 Men’s National Team 3-1 England

The pregame buzz was all about England. The visitors from across the Atlantic were still licking their wounds from last year’s 5-1 drubbing at the feet of the U.S. This English side was supposed to be better and ready to challenge for the title after arriving earlier than any other team in the competition.

However, the U.S. had none of that talk and quickly jumped ahead. FC Dallas Homegrown signee Alejandro Zendejas put the hosts up in the 11th minute with a beautiful side volley. Joshua Perez provided the perfect service for the opener.

Fifteen minutes later, the U.S. had a golden opportunity to double its lead. Pulisic skated past his defender with a bit of slick dribbling and then rounded the touchline from the left side toward goal. Pulisic played a square ball to Zendejas, but England goalkeeper Alfie Whiteman saved his initial effort. The rebound fell to Perez but an England defender blocked his shot on the goal line. The sequence started with a tremendous tackle from Eric Calvillo, which caught England out of sorts with the U.S. attackers charging forward.

England looked to have something on the counter in the 30th minute when the U.S. lost its defensive shape after a turnover. England charged forward with four against four heading to goal. Center back Daniel Barbir stepped up and quashed the threat, but conceded a free kick and earned a yellow card. U.S. goalkeeper Kevin Silva easily saved the ensuing free kick.

The visitors continued to have the run of play for the next few minutes and tried to overload the right side and the field and make life difficult on left back John Nelson. England was rewarded for the strategy with a chance in the 35th minute. The lads in white cooked up a chance at the top of the box, but Alexis Velela saved the shot off the line and then cleared the danger.

“I thought we did a good job today in containing some of their quick players up top,” Pulisic said. “I thought we had a good game.”

The U.S. put some distance between the sides with five minutes left in the half. Right back Matthew Olosunde hit in a cross that was swatted down via an English defender’s arm. Pulisic converted the penalty kick.

Tyler Adams replaced Olosunde at the start of the second half. Olosunde was dealing with a shoulder injury.

“We believe it is just a sprained shoulder,” Williams said after game when asked about Olosunde’s exit. “He could’ve carried on if it was a qualifier or a similar level. But we gave Tyler [Adams] the opportunity to come in and replace him. Hopefully, he’ll be ready for the next couple of games.”

The new part at right back did not slow down the U.S. attack. Fulham FC midfielder Luca de la Torre was the catalyst for the third goal. De la Torre lifted the ball over a pair of defenders to send Zendejas in behind the defense. Zendejas picked out Pulisic with a 30-yard pass to the center of the field. Pulisic picked out the bottom right corner of the net and nabbed his second goal of the game.

The U.S. looked like it was well on its way to a shutout victory in the opener until the first minute of stoppage time when England put a small blemish on an otherwise very impressive showing. Layton Ndukwu was the provider and substitute Daniel Wright put it away.

“It was fantastic,” Perez said about the U.S.’s performance on the day. “We played well and we created opportunities. We played well and dominated overall.”

The U.S. returns to the field on Sunday with a game at 6 p.m. against Australia. England takes on Brazil at 3 p.m. in the second round fixture.

Brazil U17 MNT 4-0 Australia

The Australia defense had a difficult outing against an aggressive Brazil attack on Friday. Brazil forward Leandro Do Nascimento picked off a sloppy pass in the first minute but missed the frame of the goal with his shot. It was a pretty clear foreshadow of what was coming for the next 90 minutes.

Andrey Do Nascimento scored the opener in the fifth minute. Caique Maria provided the assist on the goal. Evander Ferreira doubled the lead in the 32nd minute off an assist from Andrey Do Nascimento.

Leandro Do Nascimento made it 3-0 early in the second half. Lincoln Dos Santos put the final one in the back of the net in the 64th minute.

Things went from really bad to horribly unfortunate minutes later when defender Henry Davies picked up his second yellow card of the game and the Young Socceroos were forced to play with 10 for the rest of the game.

Brazil dominated the late stages of the game, but could not put another ball in the goal. Australia goalkeeper James Delianov made some exquisite saves late in the game to keep the score somewhat respectable.